Brookside Boardwalk
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There is a boardwalk between Brookside Gardens and the Brookside Nature Center. It crosses over a wet area and a small stream. Earlier this month I photographed goslings on an early-life swim in the stream. Last weekend I focused on the lush vegetation on both sides of the walkway.
It is a transition from the formal gardens to a natural area. Clearly the area has some tending to encourage the variety and density of the plants….and some of the plants are identified with small signs. It is a place to walk slowly and enjoy the delicate looking plants….the smells….the sounds of water moving through a forest. It is easy to forget that it is surrounded by dense suburbs.
The trees keep the area shady most of the day. The leaves from years past make thick mulch that the plants (jack-in-the-pulpit, cinnamon fern, and may apple to name a few) need to thrive. This year they seem particularly lush; the late winter has not harmed these low growing plants of the forest floor as much as it did the understory trees like the dogwoods.
A large tree that toppled has been left in place. Some pieces that were cut from it as part of the repair after it fell have been around long enough to have shelf fungus growing on them.
